LuLu Asian Kitchen - Rock Hill, Visited April 2018

It was my pick for lunch which of course meant I had to pick some place new. We had been to the larger Lulu restaurant on Olive before, but now there was one much closer to us in Rock Hill, so I thought we should go there and make sure they stay in business. That building used to house the China Inn for the longest time before becoming Mi Linh and then the Red Lotus. Hopefully Lulu will be able to stay there longer than the last two Asian restaurant incarnations.

We showed up around 11:30 and there was only one other customer there. We were seated at a table for 4 withh some nice padded seats and a clean fake marble surface. There was a very serene music video looping on a HDTV on the wall with quiet music sounding like a funeral parlor. We also noticed a large painting of a Asian woman eating from a bowl which looked quite nice. I should taken a picture of it, but alas I only took pictures of the food!

We decided to order some of their dim sum appetizers and then to share some of the entree dishes. We ordered crab rangoons, steamed pork buns and radish cakes for appetizers, and then chicken lo mein, the house special beef (spicy) and the Szechuan BBQ chicken (also spicy!). The waitress asked us if we wanted them spicy and my son and I agreed that we wanted them at full spiciness for more authentic Szechuan flavor.

The crab rangoons came first and they were definitely freshly fried and very hot. They were served with both the sweet and sour sauce and the mustard sauce and my now adventurous son had to try some of the mustard sauce. Needless to say after the first taste, he decided to skip the mustard sauce and go back to the sweet and sour sauce like the rest of us. The steamed pork buns were also very fresh and flavorful, but we noticed the radish cakes were somewhat undercooked and still rather mushy in the middle. However, the flavor was still good and we thought the dim sum selection was pretty good (about a dozen selections) considering it was not a more traditional "cart style" dim sum place like the larger Lulu or some of the other restaurants on Olive.

The entrees arrived shortly afterwards and they definitely give you some generous portions. The chicken lo mein was overflowing, and the house special beef and Szechuan BBQ chicken were quite generous as well. We noticed they actually add a lot of vegetables to their dishes (especially onions) which is actually healthier and more appropriate even if us Americans always want more meat. When we tasted the beef and chicken dishes we could tell the chef did not hold back on the spiciness level of either dish. The beef was loaded with lots of sliced green jalapenos and the chicken was loaded with the hot red peppers. My son had to slow down on the chicken which was a bit hotter than he had expected and was the spicier of the two. Besides the hotness, the rest of the flavors came through as well, with the other spices on the chicken coming through and the rich sauce on the beef not being overpowered by the peppers either. We thought it was a good balance of flavors on the entrees. The lo mein was a bit heavy on the onions, and less so on the chicken but still tasted pretty good.

Chicken Lo Mein

House special beef

Szechaun BBQ chicken

The service was pretty good with our server checking on us, refilling our drinks and clearing out plates regularly. As more people arrived it did get a bit noisier but it was still a pretty nice atmosphere for a Chinese restaurant. It was definitely not so "hole in the wall" like the Webster Wok and it was not as intimidating as a traditional dim sum place like the larger LuLu, Mandarin House, Won Ton King or Wei Hong would seem. Overall we thought it was pretty good and a nice addition to the Rock Hill area. We hope it can last there longer than the last two restaurants.

Food quality, Portion Size, Service